Council in court over Spirit’s shop

Spirit, outside his shop and home

Former Broadway Market shopkeeper Lowell ‘Spirit’ Grant is taking the London Borough of Hackney to court for breach of contract. The case centres on the auctioning of the shop he had previously sought to purchase.

Spirit spent six years and around £40,000 making improvements to a Broadway Market premises that he originally rented from Hackney Council, and that had served as his shop and home.

But the problems began with Hackney Council’s sale of commercial property in 2001, when it suddenly found it had a £72 million deficit in its finances, which it had to make good. The Council decided to raise some of the missing millions by selling off some of the properties it owned, including that rented by Spirit.

This meant that local shopkeepers and other small businesses were no longer able to continue renting their premises from the council. Many were given a month’s notice that their premises were to be auctioned off, including Spirit, whose Nutritious Food Gallery sold fresh produce and Caribbean wares.

On the understanding that he could purchase the place for £100,000 by putting down a deposit of £10,000 before it was auctioned off, Spirit did so. However, no-one has been able to uncover exactly what happened next, not even the council’s anti-fraud department.

Whilst Spirit’s cheque was taken, there is no record of any signed contract, and so it has been deemed completely legal that No 71 went to auction and was sold to somebody else for £85,000 – which was £15,000 less than Spirit’s offer.

The court case is a claim against the London Borough of Hackney for breach of contract. It is listed for Monday 28 September at the Central London County Court in Park Avenue, NW1 and is due to last three days.

Our previous story about Spirit can be found here .